Finders keepers? The murky ethics of found money

[Liberal_in_LA]

Finders keepers? The murky ethics of found money

You're walking through the city when you spot a $20 bill on the sidewalk. What's your first thought? Perhaps there's a rush of excitement over your good luck, or maybe a wave of sympathy for the poor soul who lost it.


***

The law's answer is clear: California Penal Code Section 485 stipulates that if you find money you need to make "reasonable and just efforts to find the owner." Otherwise, you're "guilty of theft."

"If you find even a quarter, you're technically obligated to turn it in," says Sgt. Michael Andraychak of the San Francisco Police Department.

He acknowledges that no one at the department recalls any "significant amount" of cash being turned in, but that the property division has received found money in amounts ranging "from $1 to $200 or so."

Really, $1?



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/04/26/moneytales042611.DTL#ixzz1Kf011mdA

[abelenkpe]

1. My brother once found 380 bucks in the street

He had just packed up everything he owned and driven across the country to stay with me in LA. Found the money in the middle of an intersection just being pushed about by traffic.

Guess he's a thief and a nutty birther :evilgrin:

[damntexdem]

2. I don't care that you "must turn in" even a quarter -- there is a cost/benefit to this.

And to search at all, there has to be enough money to make the search worthwhile. But if anyone is conflicted or in doubt about this, there is a simple solution: leave the money where you found it -- you are under no obligation to pick it up and search for an owner.

The further issue, unless there is some independent way to identify the owner (e.g., the money is in a wallet with the owner's drivers license), there is no way to verify ownership -- unless the money is in a distinctive amount (e.g., a single $20 is not distinctive, but a ten and ten ones might be), and unless there is a report of loss specifying the distinctive aspects.

[tammywammy]

3. It's rare that I "find" money.

I know that I've seen money on the floor in a store and I'll hand it over to the cashier. I would not feel comfortable taking the money. If it was a lot of money I'd turn it into the police, but again that's never happened to me.

[notesdev]

4. No one recalls significant cash being turned in

Just like Reagan

[fasttense]

5. At the Farmer's Market last year

A $5 bill blew out onto the ground in front of our vegetable booth. I saw it immediately and went to get it. An elderly man with a cane put his cane on it and said "It's mine now." and he chuckled. He picked it up and walked away.

I was not about to wrestle an old man with a cane over $5 and my husband was busy with other customers. I shrugged and chalked it up to experience. I figured he must be hurting for money.

But the next week the old man was back. I was not there and my college age son was standing in for me. He said the old man hung around until a couple of $1 bills blew off. My son said he went to get them but the old man grabbed them up and took off. My son said he wasn't going to chase after the old guy either.

The next week we complained to the security guard, and he had a heart to heart with the man. I have not seen the man again. But I wonder if he needed the money or was just a thief.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Is this a real problem?

Did the cops run out of pot smoking cancer grannies to go after, or something?

[angstlessk]

7. My mother found a $20.00 bill at a pharmacy..and thinking a pharmascist must be honest

walked it right up to him and turned it in...

I on the other hand would have kept the cash...but I and my husband did discover too much change...and returned it, and had to wait because the panicked clerk had to count the money....we waited..then gave back the twenty bucks the clerk erroneously gave us, much to her delight!

I also cashed a check for $10.00 only to drive forward and discover I had 10 10's and not 10 ones...I put it in reverse and told the teller she made a mistake..and the look on her face was worth $90.00!

[demwing]

8. That not exactly what Section 485 says:

One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=pen&group=00001-01000&file=484-502.9

Emphasis added...

So if you find a coin--or even a bill--and keep it, you're not a criminal (unless the above applies).